Europe's best known landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and Rome's Colosseum fell dark Saturday, following Sydney's Opera House and Beijing's Forbidden City in joining a global climate change protest, as lights were switched off across the world to mark the Earth Hour event.

Vatican investigators have completed their probe into the Legionaries of Christ, the conservative order once hailed by Rome that fell into scandal after it revealed that its founder had fathered a child and had molested seminarians.

The decision by a Rome high school to install condom vending machines has set off a storm in Italy, with the Catholic Church charging the move will encourage young people to have sex and Rome's mayor saying it sends the wrong message.

Munich has Europe's best public transport, according to a new study published Tuesday that finds commuters and visitors in 22 other cities face a range of quality in public information, travel times and charges.

Pope Benedict XVI kissed babies and shook the outstretched hands of faithful in St. Peter's Basilica as he walked up an aisle widened for security following the Christmas Eve scare when a woman scrambled over a barrier and knocked him down.